492 



CLASS BASIDIOMYCETEAE 



Fig. 163. Polyporales, Family Polyporaceae. Ganodernia applanatum (Pers. ex Fr.) 

 Pat. Habit view on dead trunk of maple (Acer). (Courtesy, F. C. Strong.) 



is also dimidiate, 4 to 10 cm. in diameter and up to 1 cm. thick. It is 

 bright orange to cinnabar-red and the trama also is red, as are the 

 pores. It occurs on dead wood of various deciduous trees in America, 

 Europe, and Asia. At maturity it is corky to punky. 



The old genus Fomes is now mostly broken up into several genera. Its 

 chief characters were the corky to woody texture of the pileus and the 

 perennial nature of the spore fruit, so that in successive growing seasons 

 new layers of pores are formed below the ones last formed. The genus 

 Fomes in the restricted sense has a corky to punky pilear trama which is 

 more or less rusty brown in color. The spore fruits are somewhat hoof- 

 shaped. F. fomentarius (L.) Gill, forms its sporophores on standing trees. 

 They are provided with a hard crust, black and shining with age, and 

 are 8 to 10 cm. in width laterally, 7 to 9 cm. from front to back, and 

 3 to 10 cm. tall, depending upon age. These were formerly used as a 

 source of tinder for kindling fires and are often still called "punks." 

 Fomitopsis differs in having its pilear trama whitish or light-colored 

 (not rust brown). F. officinalis (Vill.) B. & S. grows on larch (Larix) in 

 the Northern Hemisphere. Its chalky white, intensely bitter, friable trama 

 has been used for medicine for many centuries. The large spore fruits 

 may become almost cylindrical, about 15 cm. in diameter and up to 



